By Illinois Review
The Illinois State Rifle Association is urging the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation in “The Prairie State” after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that her department was launching a civil rights probe to determine whether or not the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office is violating gun rights as citizens face long wait times for gun permits.
In California, law-abiding citizens face up to 18-month delays to receive their concealed carry permits, and the DOJ is arguing that these delays and excessive fees are a blatant violation of Second Amendment rights.
In a statement, the Attorney General left the door open for similar investigations in other states – prompting the ISRA to release a simple statement: “Come to Illinois!”
The statement continued,
“The Illinois State Rifle Association is happy to assist the U.S. Department of Justice with their federal investigations into state and local municipalities for violating the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
In announcing the investigation in Los Angeles, the pro-Second Amendment Attorney General did not mince words.
“This Department of Justice will not stand idly by while States and localities infringe on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans. The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and under my watch, the Department will actively enforce the Second Amendment just like it actively enforces other fundamental constitutional rights.”
In Illinois, gun owners face similar 18-month delays for gun permits and FOID cards. Law-abiding citizens also face long delays for the return of their firearms if they were unfairly seized by local law enforcement officials.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department officially established a Second Amendment Task Force that will be chaired by the Attorney General. In making the announcement by a memorandum to all DOJ employees, Bondi wrote,
“For too long, the Second Amendment, which establishes the fundamental individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms, has been treated as a second-class right. No more. It is the policy of this Department of Justice to use its full might to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
Just last month, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights officially launched an investigation into the Illinois Department of Education, Chicago Public School District 299, and Deerfield Public Schools District 109 for Title IX violations after school officials forced teenage girls to change in a girls locker room in front of a trans-indentifying boy.
Earlier this week, the matter was referred to the U.S. Justice Department for an investigation. In a letter to the Attorney General, the complaint stated,
“We ask that your office promptly open a directed criminal investigation into the allegations in the complaint for violations of § 241, and take all actions necessary.”
Illinois remains on President Donald Trump’s radar. Just recently, the President announced that he will withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities and states – including in Illinois. And the Trump administration just pulled $125 million of federal COVID funding – funding that the state received under the Biden administration even years after the pandemic.
Ill. Gov. JB Pritzker (D) continues to attack President Trump as he eyes a potential presidential run in 2028. The Democratic governor, who inherited billions of dollars from his family, has even evoked “Nazi Germany” when referring to President Trump’s administration.
“Everything that he [Trump] has done has been tearing down constitutional democracy and that’s what happened in Nazi Germany.”
